1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a system and method for providing wireless broadcast and/or locally stored entertainment services on a people transporter, such as an airplane, a bus, or a train, and more particularly to a system and method for providing offers and refunds for purchasing these services to a user according to the route information.
2. Background Information
Wireless broadcast service providers, such as satellite service providers, can provide video on demand (VOD), near video on demand (NVOD), and non-VOD services, free channels, and channels requiring payment to home customers. When providing such services to a people transporter, such as an airplane, a bus, or a train, which may also provide locally stored content, problems arise because the people transporter is not stationary and may enter and leave the regulated coverage area of the wireless service provider. A regulated coverage area of a wireless service provider is an area where services from the wireless service provider are authorized to be received. When a people transporter is not in a regulated coverage area of a wireless provider, the people transporter should not provide services offered by that wireless provider even if the people transporter is within the reception footprint of that wireless service provider.
The problems, among others, of providing wireless services to a people transporter include when and how to provide program guides for channels offered by a wireless service provider and when to offer and allow purchase of channels from that wireless service provider. These problems are partly caused by the fact that a people transporter is not confined to the regulated coverage area and may go in and out of the regulated coverage area during its movement.
For example, for a home entertainment system, a customer may pay monthly service fees and does not need to make a purchase decision at a specific time in the viewing experience because the home entertainment system is confined in a building and thus is always inside the regulated coverage area of the wireless service provider. This purchasing scheme is, however, inadequate for a passenger in a people transporter because a people transporter may not always stay within the regulated coverage area and a passenger most probably will not stay in the same people transporter for a day, let alone a month.
The present invention described herein addresses these and/or other problems, and provides a method and apparatus for providing services including channels provided by a wireless service provider in a people transporter.